“There’s no pressure on us to let a property at any cost, just the drive to get the right person in the property.”

Young London’s focus has always been on providing the best possible customer service experience. As the Senior Property Consultant I know that providing a great experience – from the first moment we’re contacted by an applicant up until the time we pass them on to our colleagues in Contracts and Property Management – not only benefits the customer but also our landlords.

Making a lasting positive impression on an applicant can mean the difference between them staying with us for many years and moving on at the first opportunity.

In this blog I will talk about how my team goes about forging a great relationship with the applicant and thus fulfilling our all-important ‘Amazing Service’ mantra.

As 2014 is drawing to a close this PRSupdate article will focus on what has been happening over the past 12 months in housing and the Private Rented Sector, as well as a brief look ahead to 2015.

House Building

While the lack of housing stock is a current hot topic it has been encouraging to see statistics, released by the Government, which shows that house building has steadily been on the rise since the financial collapse of 2008.

The number of private dwelling construction starts for 2014 is set to exceed the 2013 levels by at nearly 25,000 units (106,750 in 2014 compared to 81,980 in 2013).

From yesterday a landlord (or their lettings agent) who lets out property in Birmingham, Walsall, Sandwell, Dudley and Wolverhampton will need to conduct ‘right to rent’ checks. This new initiative is part of the new Immigration Act 2014 and failure to comply – and thus let to a tenant who has no right to be in the UK – will result in a £3,000 fine per breach.

Sarah Teather’s Tenancies (Reform) Bill is talked down at its second reading

Sarah Teather’s Tenancies (Reform) Bill, dubbed the ‘Revenge Eviction Bill’, has failed to proceed from its second reading in the House of Commons.

During the debate MPs Philip Davies and Christopher Chope decided to ‘talk out’ the Bill so that only 60 MPs managed to vote before time ran out. This stopped the bill from receiving the 100 votes that are required for a motion to proceed.

The bill had received cross-party support but was openly opposed by leading landlord associations, who claimed it could lead to landlords finding it difficult to take back possession of their properties from problem tenants.

Samantha Richardson, General Manager – Resident Services, Young London

We are regularly in conversation with a plethora of leading figures in the property, investment, finance and charity sectors, many of whom are guest authors for PRSupdate. The purpose of this feature is to get them to discuss the topics and issues that are currently affecting the Private Rented Sector.

Samantha Richardson, General Manager – Resident Services, Young London

In November 2013 the International Property Awards crowned Young London as the Best Lettings Agency UK 2013/14. This accolade instilled a lot of pride in the team – who work hard all year round – but it also meant that we entered 2014 with a challenge; to deliver a level of service that lived up to this honour.

To help us measure our success Young London continued to take the unique approach of encouraging our residents and landlords to provide detailed feedback on how the team is performing. This is undertaken at key points during the relationship (check-in, renewal and check-out) where they are contacted by the independent customer service specialists, RealService, and asked to rate our performance in key areas.

A recent survey has made the claim that only 0.5% of the public are aware of the existence of the three Government approved redress schemes.

Since October 1st, a letting agent must legally be a member of one of these schemes to allow renters a recognised and independent route to take any complaint.

The schemes – the Property Ombudsman, Ombudsman Services Property and the Property Redress Scheme – are there to assess tenant complaints and can award compensation where they believe it to be appropriate.

The House of Lords voted against Labour’s call to ban letting agent fees

Labour has been unsuccessful in its attempt to ban letting agent fees.

As we reported yesterday, Labour had pushed to have the Consumer Rights Bill amended to make it illegal for an agent to levy fees against a prospective tenant.

The amendment was defeated by 45 votes.

This was not the first attempt by Labour to use the Consumer Rights Bill to ban letting agent fees. The Shadow Housing Minister, Emma Reynolds, has stated that it is their intent to push through the ban on fees (among other things) should Labour be voted into power in 2015.

The House of Lords will be in session today and on the agenda will be a discussion of various amendments to the Consumer Rights Bill, some of which could massively affect how letting agents operate.

Letting Agent fees and Client Money Protection (CMP) requirements are at the forefront of the discussions. The Labour party will be pressing for the Bill to include an amendment that would make it illegal for agents to charge any fees to tenants (like it is in Scotland).

The Government seems to be against such changes and believes that the Bill’s requirement for agents to display all their fees (those charged to both landlords and tenants) to be enough.

Dominic Martin, Former Member of the Department For Communities & Local Government’s Private Rental Sector (Residential) Taskforce

Introduction

New Investment Market & Data:
The UK is witnessing the emergence of a specifically designed and managed ‘institutional grade’ residential asset class, loosely referred to as the new Private Rented Sector (PRS), or as Build-to-Rent. However, for any investor, be this institutional, private equity, sovereign wealth funds or housing associations, there is a need to underpin entry into this sector with good quality data and analysis.

Therefore, this article looks to acknowledge some of the existing sources of data and provide commentary around these. Secondly, it highlights areas where improvement can be gained.

Investment Asset Performance:
In the medium to long-term, the aspiration from an investment performance perspective is that this market resembles the US ‘multi-family housing’ market (MFH), where detailed accounts of the performance of the investments are standard in any investment particulars. Investors need certainty around the investment performance of this asset class. This will comprise both the annual net returns (i.e. income less annual maintenance and management costs) and total long term returns (driven by either yield compression and/or House Price Inflation).

Jatin Patel, Community and Stakeholder Relations Manager, Get Living London

Often, the emphasis placed on producing best practice guides for active stakeholders within the Private Rented Sector (PRS) concentrates on the management side of things; albeit finance, investment or physical assets.

But as the sector grows and becomes more institutional and diverse, eyes should turn towards the way in which large-dwelling private landlords engage with their residents to ensure positive community development.

On the face of things, as long as residents are adhering to the Terms & Conditions stipulated within their contracts, an arm’s length approach should suffice – in theory.

A survey of 759 landlords found that 1 in 4 feel the whole experience of letting and managing their rental property was far more stressful than they had expected. A huge 67% of those questioned stated that they felt that their stress levels were higher than they were 12 months ago.

Unsurprisingly, expat landlords felt that they were under the most stress due the distance between them and their property, hampering their ability to properly manage it.

Whether you like it or not, it seems the Private Rented Sector (PRS) has been slower than most in recognising the capability of a ‘brand’ in influencing customers’ decision making process. The sector needs to shift its thinking about how a strong brand proposition is increasingly important in the PRS.

The role of brands and branding in property marketing has always been an interesting debate. The agents have one opinion, the developer another and often the marketing department yet another. The answer is never clear cut. There is however, one common agreement – if you get it right, a good brand will add value.

With any businesses’ strategic planning, it’s vital to understand what success looks like at the outset. The Private Rented Sector is no different.

When investors are scoping Private Rented Sector investments, the operational aspect is just as important as the investment strategy. How will the assets be managed, the rents set, residents sourced, the homes maintained, refreshed and further down the line, refurbished?

Asking – and answering – these questions at the outset informs the operational strategy, goes some way to informing the costs involved and can provide investors with Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) with which to sense check progress.

As the mercury begins to drop, signalling the start of Winter proper, it’s a perfect opportunity to remind renters that the cold weather can cause all manner of issues in your home, especially if no action is taken to counter the effects of the adverse weather.

To provide a lending hand the Young London Property Management team put our heads together and came up with some top tips that can help renters protect their home as the cold winter months close in.